Organizer: Department of English, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi
About the Conference
- When: 24-25 March 2025
- Call for Papers
- TA will not be provided for the conference
The ubiquity of media and all its contemporary off-shoots, like social media, impacts and shapes our everyday life, our collective politics and the communities that we inhabit. Media as an entity operates from within the structures of power that create hierarchies of access and disenfranchisement. We are shaped by the stories that are told about us and the limitations of representation. Within the context of the lived reality and experience of marginality in India which is multifarious and heterogenous, there is no doubt that media plays a vital role in shaping the terrain of public response.
However, it is first important to define the margins or marginality in this context unambiguously. By margins we mean the disadvantaged, especially people who do not have equal access to economic and political power, suffer exclusion from resources and opportunities and cannot lead their lives as equal citizens of the society and nation. Marginality may arise from various factors like gender, caste, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, disability, migration or the intersections of all or some of the above factors. Our conference will try to understand how marginalized communities/societies/individuals are represented/survive/thrive in media/social media. Do we need to critically question and develop ethical representations of marginality in media. There is no doubt that public engagement is often determined by media perception and representation. Institutions involved in the production of media, therefore, have nearly full control of the narrative of an individual or group’s depiction. Additionally, media and literature become important tools in changing the material reality for many. However, it must be acknowledged that Media also has the capability of creating a space for marginalised groups in both overt and covert ways and this is an area we wish to explore in our conference. Can media fight discrimination against the marginalized or does it increase marginalization? Do we find diversity or diverse voices in the media houses? Or is representation biased because it is controlled by the mainstream who make up the majority workforce in media houses? Does this lead to silence and erasure of the marginalized communities?
We seek submissions that engage with these themes. We welcome contributions that address media and marginality through critical analysis, historical case studies, empirical and theoretical research, interrogation of societal stratifications, or explorations of how marginalisation has seeped through media, movements, narratives, policies, and cultural production throughout history. Interdisciplinary perspectives are encouraged to critique and reimagine the systems of power, narratives, and dominant forces that define marginalisation in society. We will publish the full papers presented in the conference as a book by a reputed publisher. The papers may be structured keeping this in mind.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Media, the State, and Marginalisation
- Representation of minority communities in news media
- Do journalists and media professionals embody a biased outlook while representing the marginalized?
- The various stereotypes of the marginalized in media
- Ecocriticism and Media
- Media of Estrangement of the Human from Nature
- Media of Alienation and Individuality
- Caste Politics and Media
- Portrayals of Disability in Literature
- Role of Popular Media and Culture in Perception of Gender Dynamics
- Media Literacy and Misrepresentation
- Queer Subtext in Popular Media
- Censorship on Media
- Media and Justice
- Belligerent Narratives in Media
- Ownership of Media
- Media as a Tool of Resistance
- Media and the Amplification/Suppression of Community Voices
- Medium as the Message
- Elitism and Exclusivity of Media
- Marginality and Social Media in the 21st Century
- Media and Oppositional Communication
These topics can be adapted and narrowed down based on specific interests, disciplinary approaches, or particular case studies and comparative analyses, providing a solid foundation for an in-depth study and research in media and marginality studies.
Paper Submission Guidelines:
- Abstract: 450-500 words
- Bio-note: 150 words
- The chapters should be between 5000-6000 words and should follow the MLA 9th edition.
Important Dates:
- Abstract submission: 30.01.2025
- Paper Confirmation: 15.02.2025
- Conference dates: 24.03.2025 and 25.03.2025
- Submission deadline of chapters (for publication): 01.10.2025
The abstract and the paper must be sent to mediamarginality@gmail.com
Conference Convenors
Prof. Arunima Ray, Dr. Karuna Rajeev
English Department Union (2024–25)
Pragati Sharma (President)
Niyati Bali (General Secretary)
Eram Asrar (Treasurer)